Man who threatened to kill Muslim in takeaway shop sentenced

The Yorkshire Post reports on the sentencing of a Bulgarian national who abused staff at a takeaway shop in Leeds while brandishing a kitchen knife and threatening to kill them.

Stanislav Yordanov, 44, visited the shop on 20 November 2015 and asked the member of staff serving him if he was a Christian. When the assistant replied to say he was a Muslim, Yordanov began swearing at him.

Yordanov then made the sign of the cross and pulled a kitchen knife from inside his jacket before waving it around. He told shop staff “do not look into my eyes” as he continued to wave the blade about and shouted “foul mouthed abuse”.

A member of staff called police from a telephone at the back of the shop. When officers arrived they found Yordanov nearby eating the food he had ordered from the shop. Yordanov dropped the knife as officers approached him. When being arrested, Yordanov is said to have asked if one of the officers was a Muslim saying he would “find him and kill him when released.”

Leeds Crown Court heard that the staff at the shop were left “frightened and intimidated” by the attack.

When questioned by police about the incident, Yordanov revealed that he had served in a special forces unit and had spent some time serving in Afghanistan. His defence lawyer told the court that Yordanov “did not realise it was a serious offence to carry a knife in the UK.”

Yordanov pleaded guilty to religiously aggravated threatening behaviour and making a threat with a blade in public.

He was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment.